I'm Irradiated! - My Experience With Thyroid Scan/Radiation Iodine Parts 1, 2, 3

Part 1

Yayyyyy!
Oh. Well, this doc visit took all of 10 minutes this morning. Not too many people in there and the doc was waiting for me. THAT is amazing in itself. Yes, the doc was up front, waiting for my arrival. How often do you see THAT? Like - NEVER!!

Anyway, she took me to the back, all kinds of "radiation" signs all over everything - nice aye? How would you like to work in a place like that? She pulls out this giant red and white pill. Says it's radiation iodine. Nice, can I have one with breakfast every morning? Well, apparently it IS a very low dosage, cause she didn't have any protective coverings over here when she handed it to me and proclaimed that the Arizona sun has more radiation in just walking outside than handling or taking that pill.

It's been 30 minutes since I took the thing and I don't feel anything different. Back there at 1:00 pm to get the pictures taken and then again tomorrow morning. I was wrong about taking the pill twice, tomorrow they are just going to take more pictures and then - whatever news there may be coming from my doctor, I would assume.

Well, whatever the ending, I am playing the game - their game I should say - so I give myself credit for doing something that I absolutely abhor: going to ANY doctor's office, and on top of that, a doctor's office where when you enter the back, the sign on the door says nuclear medicine, danger, radioative materials, authorized personnel only.

Thanks, have a great day, c'ya next time.

The new tenant walked out this morning before I left for the doc's visit and proclaimed that I was up early. Lol. I am usually at work AT 5:30 am, so , not really. She seems like a really nice gal, I was going to ask her if there is too much noise at night, but I thought better and let it go. I'll wait until later. The boys are out of school on Spring break. I guess it IS spring already, or almost there anyway. That's scary. I love spring, but I hate the hell that comes after it. NOT looking to another summer living in the Arizona Sonoran desert.

Well at least my drip system is almost finished. I have one more trench to dig - I had thought I could just run a line to the plants in question under the gravel, but this is going to need it's own station and it's own 1/2 to 1/4 inch line run to it. About 30 plants worth. I will not be purchasing that stuff, however, until my financial situation greatly improves. That may actually happen if the ex-Marine does as he says he's going to do and pays me 2 months worth of rent in the span of a couple of days time. We'll see. The now-unemployed pizza delivery driver? Now $300 behind in rent as of today.

I informed him I would not be willing to go beyond a month's worth - he has til' next monday to come up with some money or he is going to get outed. I am actually a very compassionate person and hate to kick people out, but this is a business transaction and my priority must always be to take care of my own needs. There IS no other reason to rent out rooms, at least for me, than for that purpose alone. Look, in the world of tenants, I have come to accept that here and there, I am going to get screwed out of a month's worth of rent and that's the end of it. If it happens, it happens. I probably won't go after the person for the money, just let it go and move onto the next person. BUT, of course, they have to leave peacably and get out when I tell them to. If it goes to court, then I have to decide, after I win, whether to let it go or go for the throat. So far, I haven't gone for the throat on anyone, and trust me, Mary - I could easily win a monetary judgment against her and then go after her paychecks.

But is it worth the hassle? There is enough involved in doing that that I would have to say - I'm in the middle about it. Mary did a lot of work around here and that work is stuff that is lasting - not just cleaning projects but all the landscaping help I received from her. If she could have just not been a drug user, she would still be here, undoubtedly. I have enough other stuff going on right now that I really don't give it much thought.

Anyway, the newest tenant has a job and is in the military reserve. We have agreement that if she has to leave for extended period, I can do temp room rentals while she is gone. Well, I probably should get that agreement in writing since she's going to be gone for 2 months starting in May. I can rent rooms over night, sometimes a week here and there. Basically like a hotel. When Caleb is out of high school, presuming I am still here and he goes off to college, I will rent out the 4th room in such a fashion. Just temp stuff. A few extra dollars here and there. Fix the room up very nice with nicer furniture to make it a little more alluring and pleasant. Hey, it's not THAT far off. Caleb is turning 17 in May. He will start his Senior year in High School in August. Next May, he will graduate high school and then the rest of his life faces him.

He has been going to school counsellors for advice on what to do after high school. He is fairly determined to go to college first and then into the Marines. Well, I hope somewhere along the way he decides a different military organization. I love the Marines and what they do, don't get me wrong - totally respect them. But - they are the first in and the first to die. Call me selfish, I do not want to bury my son, I would rather have that the opposite way. He was ALL concerned about this news of thyroid "stuff". Of course. Who wants to lose a parent, especially at his age? Hopefully there is nothing major here, fix the problem, move on in life.

I'm very hungry. Wasn't allowed to eat since last night until now. The doc said I could eat an hour after I took the pill. Well, I don't want anything screwing up the results, I definitely do NOT want to have to do this again, so I'll just fast until after they take the pics. Then, I will treat myself to something - whatever I feel like. A nice, thick juicy steak with a baked potato and a salad sounds wonderful. I always believe in treating myself after such ordeals, especially considering I will have gone 20 plus hours without eating anything. No, not a restaurant, I just filled my grill's propane tank - grill that sucker and have at it.

Sometimes, I wish I could find other people who write like I do - they detail the events of what happens in different things that come at you in life. I'm sure there are bloggers out there that do diary type things, but I really don't find people that want to do a complete run-down of your experience in any given thing. If you could read - well for me, if I could read - what a person went through in the same circumstance, I know I would be a little more at-ease about what's going to happen.

So, I have entitled this post accordingly for anyone that might have to go through a thyroid scan. So far, I have taken one very large pill that has done nothing noticable to me at all. I will write later on or perhaps wait until tomorrow after the second set of photos and you will have a little better idea of what you are facing in such circumstances. The mind can play really big tricks on you and blow things totally out of proportion simply for fact that it is the unknown. I went there at first with this thyroid scan stuff, but I am much more at rest with it now. I would far rather know what's going on than to just sit here and act like nothing's happening.

Part 2:

I went down the second time today for the 1:00 o'clock appointment. I only knew that they were going to put a camera on my neck and view my thyroid. At this point, I have no idea whether this individual is a nurse, a doctor or just a lab technician. She was very unhelpful, I was asking questions and getting nothing answers. Questions such as what, exactly, were they looking for from this camera view? Oh, you know, things like nodules and things. Oh, I see.

The scenario played out as follows:
You go into a room, you see this rather large machine with a sliding bed on it, the bed obviously slide underneath an apparatus. I'm getting onto the bed, asking questions, getting nothing answers. She slides the bed - with me on it - underneath what she called a camera. It is nothing like any camera I have ever seen. It was approximately 20 inches by 20 inches square with a white, plastic looking surface. There was no lense and if she hadn't told me, I would never have guessed that that thing was a camera.

She informed me that that camera was going to come very close to my face and her information certainly wasn't wrong. She had this big, flat screen cranked down to about an inch above my nose as I was facing up. I do not have claustrophobia, but a person that does would have a problem with this thing. That's because you aren't sitting there for a few seconds.

No, you are laying there for up to 30 minutes with monstrosity right in your face. She said 30 minutes, anyway, I was underneath that thing for about 20. A couple of minutes of a general view, apparently to get the thing focused on my thyroid, then another couple of minutes doing whatever she was doing before starting the full-fledged ordeal.

The full fledged ordeal was facing up for 5 minutes without moving, 5 minutes with your head tilted as far as it can go to the left and then 5 minutes with your head tilted as far as it can go to the right. It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant, it was just there and I was just biding the time until this was over. Once it was over, that was it, I left. I thought twice about asking her if she saw anything unusual, I figured I would get yet another nothing answer so I let it go. She did inform me the radiation would be out of my body in about 4 days.

Helllllllo? I thought this was a low dosage! 4 days?!!

So, tomorrow is the last portion of this ordeal - more photos and then the results are sent to the doc. So, I'll be posting a part 3 about tomorrow's ordeal - which should be nothing more than taking more photos. I will ask her about the results just for the fun of it, though I consider nothing about any of this ordeal to be fun. If there is a part 4, that will be posted on this entry as well. Part 4 would be whatever the results are and if there is anything wrong what it is and what MORE stuff I am going to have to face.

The rest of this has nothing to do with the doc's visit, if you were here just looking for that info, then don't bother to read on, as this is what happened after I left the lab and is irrelevant to the discussion about the scan.

I went to the marketing agency to do the interview on camera for them. Very laid-back atmosphere, people very nice, no pressure. She took me into a room, we sat down at a conference table and she started asking me questions about my experience going through the loan modification process. As as my want, I went into great detail about the rigors of getting the mod done, the wariness I had of loan mod companies after hearing about all the scams going on, and the fact that I would NEVER just hand over 2 grand to a company without something given back in exchange.

This marketing agency is trying, apparently, to get an account with an organization known as Neighborhood Housing Service, the final question was whether I had heard of it before, I had not. However this interview was supposed to help, they are using interviews such as mine to show to them to apparently try and acquire a new contract with a new customer.

That was that. They had my $50 check written, but they didn't have it signed and the person that is the signor apparently had stepped out. They apologized profusely, showed me the check and said I could get a $50 gift card instead. No problem. They then realized that the check signer also had those as well. I had no reason to disbelieve them, they had a large office complex with numerous people working there and there is really no reason to lead people on for $50. So, I gave them my address and they are going to send it to me in the mail. If they do not, well, I will pay them a visit, in-person : )

Finally got to eat after 20 plus hours of not eating anything and only having a few cups of coffee.

Home - I guess it's no big deal about going over there again tomorrow. Just want to get this over with, find out the prognosis and get on with it already.

Part 3:
Drove all the way over there and ended up spending more time in the waiting room than underneath the camera. In fact, from the time the lab tech took me in there and I left was under 5 minutes. Apparently, the second visit is only to confirm that the first visit's worth of readings were accurate. The tech did come forward a little and tell me that they were trying to determine whether my thyroid is over or under active. I'm guessing with my alleged symptoms it's over. I won't repeat what I have been reading online about radioactive iodine and potential complications as I do not attest to the theorem that a person must acquire such simply because some body of text says it will. The results should be to the doc today or no later than tomorrow, according to the tech.

That's it, that was all there was to it. Part 4 will be whatever the diagnosis is and whatever treatment may be necessary.

ben

Ben

Cafe World Tip 14 - How To Acquire Mega Cafe Points

I wrote something about this before, but it seems that people feel the need to pay some dude or dudette that has come up with a "cheat guide" and strategy this that and the other thing.

The information those people are selling is available all over the internet for free, you just have to do some searching.

I have a Cafe World neighbor that has gone from level 43 to level 153 in about 3 weeks time. Impossible? Well, yes, if you're "just" cooking like everyone else does.

However, if you use a Cafe clicker, totally different story. The food cooks FOR you. You don't have to do ANYTHING once you set it up. It buys the food, prepares it, cooks it, serves it and then starts all over again all by itself.

Personally, I refuse to use such a thing and I have alerted Zynga to it's existence. Since my neighbor is still using it a month later, apparenlty Zynga doesn't care about this cheat, and that's exactly what it is: cheating. I would rather just cook away, that's what lured me to the game in the first place.

But, if you just want to get ahead of everyone and don't really enjoy the game and all of it's cooking glory, then look up Cafe clicker on the net and you will eventually find complete instructions on how to beat everyone. I have a link posted in an earlier tip that I put on here if you really can't find one yourself, then search my Cafe World tips and you will find it under "Automatic cooking".

Personally, I hope Zynga does something about this cheat and does away with it entirely. I won't, however, hold it against you if you want to try using it : )

In An Ideal World

.........I wouldn't always have to think about finances, I wouldn't have to have 3 strangers/tenants living in my home and I could pretty much do whatever I wanted. In the real world - well anyone that is breathing has learned about the real world. Interestingly, God NEVER promised us an easy life. He said He would help us, yes, but there ain't no red carpets being rolled out everywhere you go. Yet, for all the hardships life has to offer, there are the joys and the good things that help to equalize it all out. It's all a matter of perspective, really - the age-old is your glass half empty or is it half full axiom. A positive outlook on life - whether you are rich or poor - is the only way to go. I try, really do.

Not that anything ridiculous is going on right now, though those thyroid scans tomorrow and the next day are still bothering me. I just fall back on the fact that we all have to go out of this world somehow, if it's my time, then so beit. I hope not, definitely, there are MANY things I would love to do while I still have life within me. I have never gone overseas and I dearly want to visit various places in Europe "someday". It's a goal - it's on the horizon, usually, eventually, I find a way to make goals happen. But, for now, it's out there, not within grasp yet, still in the dream phase. And anyway, I would far rather do travelling like that with a significant other - which is also, for now, a fairy-tale in the dream world.

My "big" outing today will be to go get that Direct TV receiver. I actually would rather wait until my contract with Directv is up and then switch to Dish Network, thereby acquiring all new equipment for free, but it's still 3 months off til' I can do that. I would actually rather stay with Direct TV, but since I am an existing customer, they will not agree to any of the good deals going on for reduced prices in monthly service and they won't give me free equipment. I've tried that in the past, which is why I ended up switching to Dish Network, and then, back to Direct TV. In reality, I wouldn't mind dumping the $80 per month I am spending on it, but tenants rule this house in terms of amenities, that is one I cannot do without without jeopardizing losing all of them.

Long time readers may remember Ken, the guy that used to live here and of whom I found unconscious in his bedroom - and stayed unconscious for almost 2 months. He is on Facebook and he actually sounds lucid and normal. He says he lost 2 months of his life - has no recollection of any of the hospital stuff he went through, I must say that that is a GOOD thing because they subjected him through quite a lot of stuff during that period. What I'm more happy about is that he hasn't been able to drink any alcohol in the entire time he's been going. He would get flaming drunk on the weekends and wreak havoc in my house, I would always have to go to his bedroom door, bang on it loudly and deal with it.

Joe just called. He is also a former tenant who went to California and never returned - well never until a few weeks ago. I have a closet filled with his stuff and have contacted him telling him to come get it or lose it. He wants to come get it. I hope he has the $115.00 in hand that he promised he would have when he would come to get it, because if he doesn't, well, he's going to have to go get it first. I want the unpaid rent and I see no moral deficiency in holding his things until he pays me. It IS legal for me to do so after 21 days have passed after abandoning his rental unit. I could have had a yard sale and sold whatever I could and then give the rest to Goodwill. People leave me having to deal with their stuff, you can be rest assured if they want that stuff back, they are going to have to pay the same kind of price I have to. In this case, he left the unit, his rent was already past-due, didn't bother to come back and did not give notice of intent to move out. I have held onto that stuff for what, over 2 months now? I could also legitimately charge him a storage fee - whatever is reasonable. $5 per day is reasonable times 60 days. Yup, it adds up. I am not going to do that, but I refuse to give him his stuff back until he pays the unpaid rent. If he comes here starting trouble, I will simply call the police.

I don't expect the worst out of people, no, but with ex-tenants it can happen and HAS happened in the past. Today could be filled with all kinds of excitement!

Ummmmmmmm, with that I am going to end this one.

G'day.

ben

Cafe World Tip 12 - What does the Spice Rack and Spices Do?

There seems to be a great deal of confusion out there over Cafe World's introduction of the new Spice Rack.

Apparently, people are having a hard time obtaining everything, even though I and several other internet sites have posted links on how to get all the jars and shelving instantly.

But beyond obtaining everything you need to build your spice rack, what do the spices actually do to the food? Interesting question, and since I have been using the Spice Rack for a week or so now, I can tell you exactly what it contains and what each spices does to or for your food, as follows.

First, there are 7 spices you can obtain in your rack - so far anyway.
The first spice is called the Mystery Spice and has a "mystery effect on your food".

The second spice is called Super Salt and it adds 5% more servings to the dishes you are preparing. So, if you're making a dish that give you 900 servings per cooked dish, you will get 45 more servings on EACH one that you put the spice on. If you have 9 ovens and put spices on all 9 dishes you are cooking, then you will get 45 servings times 9.

The third spice is called Power Pepper and it add 10 percent more servings per dish. So, if you have 900 servings in a dish you are cooking, you add the Power Pepper and you will net 90 additional servings.

The fourth spice is called Onehour Thyme (their spelling) and it speeds cooking time 1 hour per dish you are cooking. So, if you have a dish that takes 4 hours, you put the Onehour Thyme on it and it now takes 3 hours to cook instead.

The fifth spice is called Sixhour Thyme - same as the Onehour Thyme but it takes off 6 hours of a dish you are cooking.

The sixth spice is called Instant Thyme - it prepares the dish instantly.

The seventh and final spice is called Salvage Sage. It removes spoil from a dish.

Obviously, this is a great addition to the Cafe World lineup, BUT, there are some drawbacks. First, to actually use the spice is painstakingly slow. You click on your spice rack, click on whichever spice you want to use and then click on the dish you want to use it on. It must take at least 30 seconds if not long for the application to life the spice bottle into the air, over the dish you are cooking and then dump some of the spice over it.

Second, the better spices cost money. Not gold coins, real money. You get a limited number of servings of them and then if you want more, well, it's going to cost you. For example, to get a 6-pack of instant spice costs $25.00!!! That's a bit much for for a game, don't you think? A 100-pack of it costs $145.00. You didn't read that wrong, one hundred and forty five dollars. I'm guessing it's possible to get some of these spices free from your neighbors, I definitely know you can get the mystery spice gifted to you from neighbors.

You CAN buy Super Salt and Power Pepper with gold coins. Pretty pricey, but what else do you have to do with your coins? Oh, yeah, you wanted to re-do your Cafe. Well, it's all about your priorities, I guess. A 50-pack of Power Pepper costs 30,000 gold coins. Well, the gold coins didn't cost money, so I have been buy that stuff and using it on dishes that cost a lot of gold coins to buy to begin with. Probably not a good deal to use on Super Chunk Fruit Salad, but definitely worth it on more expensive dishes that take longer to make such as Chocolate Cake, or maybe the Giant Dino Egg which takes 3 days to prepare and costs 1,800 gold coins per dish to prepare.

So, that's a review of what the Spice Rack is all about. It IS worth it to use on some dishes, but again, the biggest drawback for me is how long it takes to actually use the spice on each dish you are cooking.

Now get back to cooking!

ben

Poverty

Okay, I'm not THAT bad off. I still have money in my accounts, but it is dwindling quickly. Paying the child support helped to ensure that my money will totally disappear soon if I don't get some paying tenants - paying - their rent, as in - paying. You know, like when a person gives you money for services rendered/offered/completed?

I have a water bill to pay, a few credit card payments to make and keep the electricity on this month. Beyond that is gas for the car and of course food for the stomach. Michael's mother has actually been bringing him food on a fairly consistent basis. Of course, I tend to force the issue simply by not having foods that Michael likes or - even harder - has to be cooked. I like cooking my own food, therefore I do not buy a lot of prepackaged garbage. Prepackaged if full of all kinds of wonderful garbage, most notably fat content and sodium content. Packed with fat calories, that stuff is really not good for anyone.

I would not, of course, be in this position if even ONE of my tenants was current on his payment. I have an alleged, prospective renter coming over this afternoon. Craigslist people are the bane of my existence. They call me, I do not call them. I put my Magic Jack phone number on the ads so that a person can simply call me if they are interested in the room and discussing it instead of endless emails. They say yes, they will shop up - but they never do. Probably 20% of the people that say they are going to show up actually DO show up. Oh, the point was that I can change my Magic Jack number at ANY time if some whacko starts doing crank phone calls. Of course, I can just shut the thing off as well and those whackos will be talking to nothing buy my voice mail.

Rehashing the same thing over and over, Monday and Tuesday are the "Days". The thyroid testing, that is. Mom and dad are seriously concerned after I informed them of what is happening, even though I tried to tone it down and not really make a big deal out of it. Oh well, I guess that's what parents are supposed to do.

I do have one consolation: after Mondays photos of my thyroid, I am going to a marketing company who is going to video me in answering questions about the process I went through to get my loan modification done. It's an hour's worth of my time for 50 bucks, so I don't think it a waste at all. They advertised on Craigslist asking for people to come in. I thought it a scam at first, but it's real live people operating out of a building in north Phoenix and yes, they have been there a while. The worst that can happen? I don't get my $50 and then there's some serious "answering" to do. Lol.

Well, I'm going to get this little drive with Caleb over with.

I'll report back how it went after we get out of the hospital with all the injuries sustained in the acci.......I mean after we get back and see how it went : )

g'day

ben

Friday!!!

Umm, wow, I got caught up in some news and Craigslist stuff and my before-work time is almost already gone!!
Oh well.
I am reading this situation with the health care bill very intently - this little deal where federal funds can be used to perform abortions is sickening - to me anyway. If you want to kill your baby - PAY FOR IT YOURSELF, don't assume or expect American taxpayers to do it for you. I will be very upset, honestly, if this bill passes with that junk in there.
I only state this because now the dems are stating they are ready to try to pass the bill without taking that wording out of there. I consider this a form of governmental corruption on a mass scale. Even many liberals do not like the idea of taxpayers having to foot the bill for such.

Anyway, the weekend's almost here, I have a short work day - shortened anyway, because I was out late yesterday afternoon doing a return in the far, southeast valley. Which I thought was cool, knowing I would be able to get off early today : )
Have a great day, folks!
ben

Children, Please Don't Try This At Home

There is a towing company with a huge yard across the street from our work. I see totally trashed vehicles on top of tow trucks coming in there every day, but - this one takes the cake. If anyone was in that car when it was ran into, I would assume that person or those people have met their Maker at this point. A Fedex driver came into our store today all worked up about that car. When I saw it, it was something out of the Twilight Zone. I came back by later to take several pics of it - I was in the semi when I took that pic, but it was gone. They don't leave that stuff sitting long, I really have no idea WHY they bring all those vehicles over there. The reason I say that is because they bring many of those vehicles in there, leave them there and then later on move them - somewhere else. When I say somewhere else, I mean a tow truck comes back, loads it and takes off with it????

Umm, well enough of that. In fact, I have to go to bed now!!
G'nite.
ben
No clue. Never asked, not that interested.

Thursday

Slooooooooow week at work, until today. Suddenly there are 6 deliveries and a return in the system. Just like that - poof and they're there. Well, it would be nice if some of this stuff would have come on days when there was nothing to do, such as yesterday. I spent most of the day yesterday covering up plastic pipe.

Arizona sun burns the stuff. From light brown to black, that pipe gets pretty ugly. It STILL burns even when covered up, but at a much slower pace. At this time of year, not so bad, but any discoloration now will be intensified great in a couple of months from now.

Tenant issues continue to plague me. Yesterday, Michael said one of them was taking his food, food his mother had bought for him. I have seen this individual - when going through video surveillance - taking my food before. I have had this problem before and I had to directly confront the person to get it to stop. Well, this guy has new hours at his new job, the best I could do was leave a notice under his door. When I did see him on surveillance doing his thing, he would go through my cupboards and both refrigerators, digging through all of it as if he owned the place and the stuff what is in it.

Hunger tends to drive people to do whatever they have to, including stealing, to stave it off. Yes, I consider taking another individual's food to be stealing. I also find it quite annoying, especially when I am getting lower on funds, food is a huge expense. It does answer questions about how the food I buy can possibly go as fast as it does.

The other tenant I also have not seen. He's THERE, coming home after I go to bed. I also left him a notice, but this notice was pretty blunt: I need money, now, thanks. It's amazing how people will go out of there way to avoid you when there are situations like this going on.

The 3rd room is still empty. Another no-show yesterday. The dude that left for California is back in town, I found that out yesterday from his employer. I left him an email saying he could have his old room back if he could come up with some money. He wrote back later saying he was broke and that he wasn't staying, but would be by to pick up his stuff.

I hope he intends on showing up with $115 in hand to get it, because that stuff ain't going anywhere until he does. That's back-due rent he owes, and though it's illegal to keep a person's personal belongings ransom for rent, it is NOT after X amount of days have passed after that person leaves. Well, that time frame is LONG over with. I could charge him a storage fee on top of the back due rent, but I would be just as happy to get the $115, let him have his stuff and get on with other things.

So, anyway, confrontation time has begun, we'll see where it goes. I half expected to find a letter from either or both of them out there this morning, nothing. I am hopeful my letter to the food-stealer was enough to not have to deal with that problem again, I have no clue how the other guy is going to pay anything towards his rent since he has apparently spent all of it on - whatever he's spent it on. I dunno, and at this point, I don't care. He can go jump in a lake for all I care after he got a tax refund check and offered me nothing towards the rent out of it. I would rather have ALL 3 rooms empty than have non-paying tenants in them. As you well know, anyone living in a home is costing the homeowner money regardless. If they are taking hot showers, using the toilet, doing laundry, cooking, watching TV, using the internet - add all of that up and yes, they are consuming.

Again, it starts to get very annoying.

Yeah, that's it for now. My focus is totally on correcting these situations - however it has to happen. Amazingly, my dad has offered yet again to help if I lose my job to layoff or if things get "dicey" around the house with non-paying tenants. I did NOT ask for help, in any way shape or form, he is, apparently, even more interested in helping me out since the fact that I am helping 2 homeless people with somewhere to stay came to light. HE is totally into helping people in need, especially the homeless. He has been going around giving out assistance to such for many decades now. I didn't realize the effect it would have on him for him to find out I am doing the same type of thing - I didn't let him know that I have been helping homeless or near-homeless for at least 20 years now. I just never went as far as to have 2 of them, a couple, living on my property in a travel trailer.

BTW, they hand me over that $25 faithfully every Wednesday. Hey, it pays for their use of utilities which is all I was looking for. The man goes around and does odd jobs for whosoever will give him whatever he can get out of it.

As for this entry, it's history cause' work day approacheth and finally, there is PLENTY of work to do today.

G'day.
ben

Wednesday

Bravo, bravo, bravo!!!
Love what the Chief Justice had to say about the State of the Union address, the atmosphere of it and the uselessness of them, the members of the Supreme Court, even showing up to such......"very troubling" and that the annual speech to Congress has "degenerated into a political pep rally."

Nice. A voice of moderation - sanity - the tones that should be used in a little more somberness with respect to the most powerful position in the world concerning the President of the United States. "So I have no problems with that," he said. "On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court -- according the requirements of protocol -- has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling."

Obama "chided" the members of the Supreme Court for their decision" that allows corporations and unions to freely spend money to run political ads for or against specific candidates." What a lovely slap right back into the face of Obama with Justice Roberts statements.

I digress. Still on the hunt for another roommate. One guy over yesterday - he wanted to visit a bunch of houses before making his decision. So, I don't hold my breath on that one and continue to run ads. As in the one I just posted before starting to write this entry. We DID talk for quite a long time, though, so who knows. You never know what's going on through someone's head while you're talking to them about everything BUT the room in question, which is where conversations usually lead to at the table. But, that's good for me to get an idea if this person is a nutcase, whack job and whether I want them in my house or not - it's a 2-way street when it comes to that.

Rain finally stopped, but I couldn't see the sky in the darkness this morning and haven't looked at weather reports so I don't know what's going to happen today regarding the weather, but what I DO know issss.......time to go to work!

G'day.
ben

Watermelons and Obama

Funny, I grew up around black people and I never heard anything about watermelons and black people being a racist comment.
It seems if you say ANYTHING negative about Obama, you MUST be a racist. This is the message some elements of the media have been attempting to get across since before Obama was elected.
I doubt Dan Rather is a racist, and I doubt his statements were racially motivated. Who cares about the color of the man's skin, all I know is if he continues the path he's on, HE will be dubbed the worst president in America's history. He has done NOTHING, that I can see, except spend money and receive a Nobel Peace Prize forrrrr...........what, again?
Oh, there are black kids over at my house every day, I will have to ask them if they have some enamor for watermelons. Actually, those kids like anything I happen to be making, lol. For the record, I am white, not a racist, but definitely did NOT vote for Obama. I did not believe he had the experience or character to be able to deal with the problems the world is going to throw at him in terms of Iraq; Iran; Afghanistan; North Korea and then there is always something brewing somewhere in the world.

Iran most certainly doesn't respect the man, though, in all honesty, they don't seem to respect anyone, including their own people.

We are still in a housing bubble/disaster; bank execs are still getting huge bonuses along with AIG personnel; the economy still sucks; millions of Americans are still out of work; many of those are losing their homes and some of those are unable to find new housing; even more are hungry. The government has thrown billions of dollars at this mess to accomplish - from what I see - absolutely nothing but waste American taxpayer money.

No, I don't see where Obama has done anything but create an even larger black hole to dump taxpayer money into - it goes in there and just disappears. OH NOOOOO! I inadvertently said "black" hole, I MUST BE RACIST!!!! I MUST just not like the man because he is black!!! Of course, if I were racist, I wouldn't have black kids over at my house, along with Mexican kids - my son's friends - hanging out, playing video games, etc etc etc, now would I?

Rant over, at least for this entry and back to the normally scheduled program, my life, mostly. This isn't the typical blog, this is more of a diary with my own politcal views thrown in here and there and even more about other subjects.

As for today, well, our store has slowed down considerably. Yesterday was 1 delivery and a pickup, today is just 1 pickup and nothing else. May be a challenge to keep busy all day long, but there is plenty of cleaning that needs to be done. I am continuing to run CL ads for a roommate, and though I have had a number of calls and even people interested in coming to see the place, only 1 individual has actually shown up and he was terrified of the dogs. Just keep plugging away at that until I get someone in there.

As for now, I must get offa here, work day is here.

G'day.
ben

Monday

Woke up in the middle of the night feeling very - strange. Can't describe it. Whatever it was, it kept me awake for the rest of the night.

Since I JUST had bloodwork done, I can rule out a lot of stuff, and I can also wonder if some of the things that have been going on inside of me are totally and directly related to this "high thyroid levels" that the doctor had written in her notes concerning my bloodwork.

I'm sure management won't be particularly pleased that I am going to have to take 2 full days off of work next week in order to get this testing done - but - most people would agree that a person's health takes precedence.

As for the news today, lol. Obama is obviously a very desperate man. Perhaps that's because he has accomplished absolutely nothing since he's taken the reigns in the Oval Office. His legacy will be the president that spent more money than any other president in history and accomplished nothing while doing it. I would LOVE to get my hands on a trillion dollars - a person could do a LOT of good in this world with that kind of money!.........and I am NOT suggesting wasting it on stupid stuff, either.

I find it quite amusing that North Korea takes such GREAT offense to the U.S. and South Korea in doing their annual military drills, yet they themselves cared not one iota that the ENTIRE world, practically, was totally set against them, the North, in detonating missiles not too terribly long ago. A bit hypocritical. Their useless, vile rhetoric that they are stating to the world today is nothing new, they have always threatened the U.S. and South Korea and will continue to do so forever, I assume. IF they embarked upon a course of attempting to destroy U.S. and SK military forces over there, I am pretty sure they know the end result would be THEIR destruction, or at least a total takeover of the country.

Oh, I had a guy come over to look at the room yesterday. Disaster. Lol. He loved the room, but he was absolutely TERRIFIED of the dogs. My ads distinctly say there are 4 dogs at my house and that 2 of them are very large, but very friendly. He wondered about an "alternate" entrance to the house - which I do have on the east side in having a dog-free zone, showed him that. I am pretty sure, even though he said he would call me, that I will never hear from that individual again, lol.

Another gentleman is supposed to stop by later on today after I get off of work to take a look and there are a few people "in-queue" who have stated they wanted to come take a look, but have not done anything yet.

It rained all night long and much of yesterday. I am assuming whatever deliveries that are in the system will be cancelled - muddy work sites are a general contractor's nightmare: the city will come along and actually fine them for getting mud all over the streets.

I want to post another CL ad for the room before work starts, so, I'm outta here.
ben

Salt River Canyon, Arizona

Pics and a video I made while I was driving through there this week in the semi.
Click on any pic for a much larger view. The 4th pic down and the 6th are of the same view, one is magnified the other is an overall view.

Saturday

Just a few things.
First, a guy was supposed to show up and check out the house/room. He was 10 minutes away when he had last called. It happens - people drive through the neighborhood, don't like it, leave, won't call you back and at least have the nerve to tell you so. I saw him, I believe, drive through the neighborhood, it must have been him, guessing anyway. He drove up the street, turned around and drove off.

Next? Don't really care, there are 4 other people "in-queue" showing up later. I tell them first-come, first-served. I continue to run new ads everyday, meanwhile, until I get someone in here.

Second, a Cafe World neighbor and facebook friend wrote after I asked on my wall if anyone knew anything about thyroid problems. Turns out she has had her thyroid removed, had cancer in it. That was 15 years ago. She seemed to think it was no big deal and that she knows a lot of other people with thyroid issues, again, to them anyway, no big deal. Take one pill a day and that's it. Allegedly no side effects.

Well, I hope I don't have cancer in there, number one, and number two, I'm kinda leaning towards hoping it's just an iodine deficiency and that I need to get more in my system. I do not cook with salt and I do not eat a lot of packaged foods. It never dawned on me that perhaps that lack of iodine intake could cause a problem. I have read that it's an important - mineral I guess - that you need on a daily basis. I was thinking of getting some iodized salt and seeing if there is any "change" in how I feel. I do have some of the symptoms that are recorded on sites on the net.

That's my day, really. Focusing on getting someone in here more than anything. It's a great need right now and I am hopeful that one of these people on my lure will move in tomorrow, preferrably, when the room is first available.

I still haven't called my mother about the thyroid issue - she tends to get a bit carried away in the advice department and gets mad if you don't sound all that enthusiastic about hearing it. Some of her advice, however, is pretty solid.

G'day.
ben

Friday

The tenant that is 2 and a half weeks behind comes into the house yesterday and starts telling me his story. A manager allegedly grabbed him and started squeezing him - or whatever - he called corporate, the guy was allegedly fired. Now, he has also been let go. He started talking about how he filed for unemployment and this that and the other thing.

Great, where's my rent? He has a tax refund check, of which I informed him. He starts talking about how he has to pay his car insurance. Great, where's my rent? If he gives me NONE of that tax refund check, I will be issuing him a 5-day notice. The ex-marine - well I guess I'll find out next week. He has historically paid his rent, on time excepting for one month where he got behind and doing the same thing he's doing this month, so I'm hoping he's good for it.

The empty room, I've had a number of emails and have replied to them but nothing solid yet. I will be making some phone calls after work today to see if any of these people are really interested.

Friday. Left work yesterday early - and there was nothing for today excepting a couple of pickups. Now? 4 deliveries and pickups for those deliveries all over the place. I had thought I was going to get off of work early today - I doubt that's going to happen now, meaning a couple of hours of overtime - which really isn't overtime because REAL overtime doesn't start until 40 hours is done. I'm currently getting 35 hours per week. Thinking back to the days when I was work 70, 80, even 90 hours per week, lol. Hauling in the money, too. Different job, yes. Taking home - after taxes - over $1,100 per week. Those were the good ole' days.

I have had thoughts here and there of a part-time job - get rid of one tenant at least and open up a bedroom for some other use than strangers - but, I love my weekends off. Hard to get beyond that. I am currently NOT floating financially with these non-payers - but I hope to get that other room filled by Sunday when it's going to open up and I also expect some sort of resolution to the non-payers, one way or the other, for good or bad.

Yes, it's the good life of attempting to juggle finances with - not enough. Hey, changing the subject drastically, did you see the video of that rogue wave hitting that ship? That was CRAZY! 2 people dead and more injured. I was in awe of the person taking that video - standing there while this wave comes up and comes right at the person doing the video. Me? I would have RAN for my LIFE!! SCREW the video!

Umm, nothing much else - cepting' my son's accomplishment, yesterday, of finally passing the written test to get his learner's permit. He was ecstatic. I will start this weekend with him somewhere in a parking lot and see how he does. Graduate to something - a little at a time - until I am a little comfortable that he's ready for "regular" traffic, which around these parts, is hardly normal.

Anyway, work day approaches and I must be off to the races!

G'day : )
ben

The Longest Day?

When I went into work this morning, I knew what was in the truck routing system and what deliveries had to be made where. I already had the semi loaded with a giant fusion machine and it's accompanying generator. I was to take it to a jobsite only 7 miles down the road and then go make another delivery, a pickup at a vendor and then deliver what I picked up at the vendor. I figured that would take most of the day.

I'm getting ready to leave when a salesman calls my manager - who showed up to work today after being off for 2 days extremely sick.

It's a long story - trying to completely change the game plan for 2 warehouses worth of drivers usually is going to take a while. The change was simply this: Take the machinery I have on my truck to White River, Arizona - they have an emergency and have to have it there today, the earlier the better. The 7 mile one-way drive turned into a 172 mile one-way drive through some of the most beautiful scenery to be found in Arizona.

Words cannot describe the Salt River Canyon. It gives the Grand Canyon a run for the money in terms of beauty and vastness - yes, the Grand Canyon is definitely a wonder to see, but the Salt River Canyon is amazing. I hadn't been through there in ages. It's up in the mountains - you go down must be thousands of feet from the top to the bottom with switchbacks, steep grade and some intense views. I went through there twice - going up and coming back. Never does God's creation cease to amaze me.

The place also brings back memories - my family did a white water river rafting adventure starting at the bottom of that canyon some years ago. Long story - a dude almost died - but anyway. I took a video of going down one side of the Canyon - I didn't expect to be sent anywhere today, so, even though I had my camera, the battery was more than half dead. I was able to take some pics, 2 videos and really, enjoyed the drive. 13-1/2 hour day. I am going into work late tomorrow and probably getting off early. The only thing that could change that?

I no more got home than ANOTHER salesman calls me, not half an hour ago. Hey, Ben, it's Hector. Now, Hector is a totally cool guy, even if you wanted to get mad at him you just couldn't . He was wondering whether I had left the fusion machine and generator up on the reservation. Nope, I said, it's on the semi, I spent all day taking it up there, taking it off the truck, assisting the field tech using it, loading it back on the truck. I was bracing myself.

The project I was going to take the machine to this morning was what his call was about. They are on a VERY tight schedule in getting whatever work is being done there. I think they have to shut down an entire wastewater treatment plant to do the final connection for the pipe. That pipe is welded by the machine that is on my truck. Yes, amazingly, there are types of underground piping in existence that is welded together by heat, not by gluing it together or using fittings that mechanically join the pipe together. The situation is mandated by the city: you WILL have this done by X amount of time. Usually, in such situations, if it is not done, there are huge fines involved.

The point. The contractor doing the work demanded to have a backup unit available - and close by - if the unit being used breaks down for any reason. Yes, I'm on call. But "only after 3:00am", lol, when they're starting the work. They brought another machine up from Tucson with another tech to do the work. I had to ask: Well, what's wrong with THAT machine?

Nothing. But, Hector is leaving nothing to chance. If someone's ass is going to be hung up on a line, it ain't gonna be his. I doubt I will get a phone call, but if I do, I agreed to get up, drive to work, get in the truck and drive it to the jobsite. I can't imagine what could go wrong with the machine and I don't want to try - if I do, I can imagine getting a call at 3:30 am : )

As it is, I am not expected at work until 8:00 am, which is fine by me. The company will not allow OT, I know I'm gonna lose it anyway, I might as well show up later to work - there is nothing to do tomorrow excepting some pickups from vendors.

I have one of those head frying brain buzzing things going on from driving all day along with working. Dunno how to describe it - if you've ever spent a day driving you may have experienced it. I am not even going to try to go to sleep until it subsides. I have PLENTY of experience with that. For me, anyway, I cannot sleep in such a condition until that noise fades. It's sorta like the sound of bacon frying mixed with the sound of water coming out of a faucet.

The only regret today is that I had no choice but to put off taking Caleb to the DMV office for his second attempt at getting a learner's permit. Yesterday was the doc's office and I had already told him Mondays aren't good for me after work. I wasn't in cell range today - there ARE no cell towers for 75 miles anyway of the area I was at. He had called and wondered where I was at.

Well, whatever. This day is trashed and cashed and I'm outta here.

G'nite.

ben

Monday

Just a few minutes left before I have to sign in for work.
Not feeling too terribly bad today, a good thing. Still have that cough, but from the looks of it, that stuff hangs around quite a while before it leaves your system.
Runs to Casa Grande and another part of Chandler is the fare for today's doings, at least I will have something to do to keep me busy.
Weather has turned back to clear skies - a good thing, that helps a coughing cold to go away faster than cold, overcast skies and blowing winds.

So, hopefully make it through the work day without too much trouble - or if so, the work day doesn't last forever - get home, take a nap and just continue to recover. I wonder how much of anyone's life, on-average, is spent being sick?

Lol.
G'day.
ben

Dogs 101: How To Get Dog Antibiotics WITHOUT A Prescription

This will be the first of an on-going series of how to own a dog - or several dogs - without having to shell out a fortune in keeping them healthy and taking care of them properly. It will also include an entry on whether you are "fit" to be a dog owner, what kind of dog you should consider getting and how much training you will need to get your dog into "obedience" mode versus going hog-wild crazy mode.

Now, to the subject. Antibiotics. From time to time, your dog may need antibiotics. I have 4 dogs, 2 of them are Great Danes and they are brothers. They used to fight each other endlessly when I first got them, took a while to get that bad habit removed from them, and even now I still occasionally have a problem with it. When a dog is bitten by another dog - you can pretty much expect that bite wound is going to get infected.

Clean it out as well as you can, remove the fur from around the wound, clean clean clean it - it's still 90% guaranteed to get infected. Well, I was having this problem with my dogs and taking one of them to the vet was $50 just to walk through the door. The vet looks at the dog, tells you he needs antibiotics, information you already knew before you went in there, gives you a prescrpition, walaah, you have just shelled out at least $100.

I started an intense online search. That first visit cost me $125 and I wasn't about to have to pay out that much again if I could help it. I kept looking for dog antibiotics in the search field of a Google search, I kept seeing references to Fish Flex and Fish Mox. What is that? It's antibiotics for your fish tank. You can buy those antibiotics legally without a prescription.

What I didn't understand was why I was getting to all these sites for this fish flex business and what does that have to do with my dog? More searching revealed the answer. This fish flex antibiotics comes in capsules in varying amount of milligrams per capsule. 250 and 500 milligrams being the norm. I found out through some other websites that this stuff was being packaged for aquariums, but the intended use was for your dog. NOTHING on the label or packaging can say that, if it does, then kablaam, you have to have a prescription - and pay a lot more money to get it.

I ended up buying 300 capsules of Fish Flex and Fish Mox. If you don't buy them in advance of a problem, then there IS no usefulness to having this option. Obviously, your dog can't wait for a week or however long any specific company is going to take to get them to you while your dog has this huge and growing infection on his neck or wherever. Vets don't want you to know, but the packaging tells it like it is: It lasts up to TWO years in storage. I keep them in my refrigerator to ensure they stay cool and for optimum storage life.

I just went through a round of one of my dogs with an open wound that was infected. That stuff knocked it out in a couple of days. I do, however, give them the stuff for 7 days minimum, because that's what the experts say to do. You can do it however you like and as a disclaimer, the views expressed on this blog are my opinion and my opinion only. I do not claim to be a vet or have any educational background in dog medicine. What I do claim is that I want to be able to afford to have dogs - and to do that, I have had to search out a lot of stuff online to figure out how to get things done without paying a fortune for it.

You can also buy rabies vaccinations online - at a GREATLY reduced price over going to a vet, and all the other vaccinations that your dog/s need to stay healthy. The last round of antibiotics I bought was from Revival Animal Health, you can Google that and you will find a whole line of "fish" antibiotics and drugs available at a pretty good buy, and no, I don't work for them or get anything out of it, I am just trying to help people get the stuff they need for their dogs without having to - get rid of them. There are already enough dogs being turned into shelters because of the terrible economy and people not being able to afford them and tragically, many of those animals have to be put down due to lack of sufficient people adopting pets.

BTW, for those that have trouble giving dogs pills, here is the easiest, albeit the grossest, method to do it:
Grab the dog by the snout with one hand and pull up - it will open up his jaw. Take the pill that is already in your other hand on the tips of your fingers and yes, with dogs like mine with mouths as big as they are, I have to stick my entire hand inside their mouth. Shove that pill to the very back of his throat. It must go in far enough that he can't reject it with his tongue, cause' if he can, rest-assured that pill is going to end up on the floor. Close his mouth, keep his head lifted up and massage his neck, he has no choice but to swallow it. It takes 2 seconds to do this method compared to people attempting to hide the medicine in doggie treats or whatever other nonsense that goes on out there. I know it's gross, but it can get very annoying trying to lure a dog to eat a pill as opposed to just shoving it down his throat, and no, it doesn't hurt the animal in any way and it isn't considered abusive.

Cafe World Tip 11: Automatic Cooking

This will be a short one. I have found - all over the net really, just stumbled on it and found that it might be something certain people might be interested in. It alleges that you can have food cooking for you without you having to do anything. Therefore, I am calling it Automatic Cooking.

I assume this is a glitch that probably Zynga will seek out and destroy someday, but until then, here is a few sites with people giving instructions on how to set it up:

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic49995.html

I have not tried this and won't be - I just prefer to play the game as it is presented instead of having some software glitch doing it for me. The actual name being given this hack/glitch/whatever it is is a Cafe Clicker.
Good luck and if anyone has success in setting it up, please come back and let me know how well it works!

Thanks!

Cafe World Tips - 10: Low Buzz Rating & Slow Game

Let's explore the various reasons that you might possibly have a low buzz rating. As I peruse the message boards on Cafe World, this is one of the biggest issues that people seem to have when complaining about that game, yet, if you have everything set up correctly in your cafe, buzz rating won't be an issue and you WILL have a 105 rating all or mostly all of the time regardless.

First off, let me share something with you that I found simply by clicking on the buzz rating in my Cafe itself. It simply says that if you have a low buzz rating, try redecorating your cafe.

I found that interesting because this is coming from Zynga, not some player who is trying to sell you his guide to playing the game. Much of what I have read from players is that the deco in your cafe has nothing to do with buzz rating, yet here is Zynga themselves saying, apparently, that it DOES affect it.

Look, if a person comes into your cafe and has to wait too long - which isn't very long btw, they leave, your buzz rating goes down. If they sit down at the table and have to wait too long to get their food, they leave - buzz rating goes down. The objective is to minimize wait time and maximize the use of your waiters and waitresses.

To do this, the layout of your cafe is EVER so important. Many layouts incorporate the use of a giant square or U-shaped of tables all next to each other with the counters in the middle. This works well and is the way I have my Cafe set up. You must make sure that your servers are able to access all of the tables they are trying to serve, if they cannot, whichever tables are inaccessible are going to have customers lowering your buzz rating because, of course, they are not being served.

Try tweaking things in your cafe. If you have more than one door, get rid of them and only use 1. Some players swear that putting 2 doors side by side improve buzz rating. I didn't notice in my cafe that that accomplished anything. I have doors at opposite corners of my cafe. Try rearranging your tables. Google Cafe World Layouts and see some setups - or just get a bunch of neighbors and go to all of their cafes and see how they have theirs set up. Make sure you keep your serving counters as close to the tables as possible.

And again, try redecorating your cafe, if Zynga says that's a solution, then by golly it must have some merit to it.

Onto slow speed. Cafe World is a beta application. The more things you have in your Cafe that the beta has to "remember" and keep running, the more resources it's going to us in your computer. I currently have 12 counters and 18 ovens. When I added 4 counters and 2 ovens a few days ago, I noticed the speed slowed even more - starting up the game and getting it running. That's the simple point. If your computer doesn't have enough memory to be able to keep up with too much, take some of the counters and stoves OUT and see if that doesn't help. It's less for the beta app to have to deal with.

Tweak your computer. I'm referring to Windows XP - but the same should be true of any Windows application. Go into control panel, find System. Click on Advanced, then click on Performance settings. Under Visual Effects, click on the field that says "Adjust For Best Performance". Note that you will have to restart your computer for it to apply the new settings. Don't worry, your computer isn't going to crash because you are changing this particular thing.

Now, click on Advanced on the same window - a tab at the stop. It will take you to a screen that has on it, with other things: Virtual Memory. You want to make sure you have that set at the highest possible setting your computer will allow. My max is 2046 MB. I simply put in a large number, the computer faulted and told me to put in a value no greater than 2046 and that's where I applied it. Yours might be different. This will greatly affect the quality of your game.

You may also want to change the resolution. A little less clarity might not be such a bad tradeoff for a faster playing game.

To do this, go back into your control panel, find the Display icon and click on that. Click on the Settings tab. It will take you to a screen for resolution. Try setting it to less resolution and lower color quality. Go back to your Cafe game and see if it helps any. It did for me, but that's just me. If it doesn't do anything, you can always set it back to the higher resolution and color quality you had it at before.

The other standard tips I have already covered in another entry, but I'll go over it again here. Always clear your cache/history before starting the game. Shut off any other programs you are running when you are going to start up Cafe World. Downloading programs; having software running - anything is going to negatively effect the speed of the game, trust me, it will. Also, do a defrag on your computer frequently. It takes time but you can still use the computer while it's doing the defrag. Compress old files that are taking up space and not being used for anything. All of this can be done through the control panel.

If you try everything concerning your buzz rating and you still can't fix it, please leave a comment on here - we can become Cafe World Neighbors and I can take a look at what's going on in your cafe, how you have it set up and perhaps some tips to help you get it running smoothly.

Happy Cooking!

Free Plants

The ad on Craigslist distinctly and clearly read: NO earlybirds, starts at 9:00am.
So it was kinda crappy to get there and find out they had been letting people in since 8:00 am.
Well, I didn't make an issue out of it - at all actually - I just went in there to see if they had any freebies left, or out of the stuff they were selling, was any of it my pricing - very cheap - and anything I could us?

I am referring to an ad in Craigslist that had free plants listed, an event that would take place today, starting sharply and crisply at 9:00am.

Someone was standing there and I asked them if there were any free plants left? Yes, she said, those rows of plants right "there". Agave, I took 7 of them and then started looking around. An older lady started telling me about some plants there that I had no clue what they were. In a couple of instances, she said to just take some clippings off of some ground covering plants and they would grow. I did that.

Then I found 3 very interesting cacti - long, tall and spindly but beautiful looking things. She thought they wanted $5 a piece for those. A rubber tree, this that and the other thing.

I get out to the front with my haul. I pointed at that Agave and wanted to reinforce the idea that those were freebies. The lady out front said no, those weren't the free plants at all. Oh. Well, I was just going to take them back inside, I am not going to spend a fortune on this stuff. She said go ahead and keep them, would you give $20 for everything else. Okay. "We don't take checks". I was informed in the back that they weren't taking cards and that it was cash or check only, so I let her know that was what I was told. Well, another lady that didn't have cash told me where the nearest ATM was, so I was about to ask them to hold all those plants for me while I go get some money.

The lady said: "no, no, no, we'll just go ahead and take your check". The people running this show were all older ladies, very nice and kind people, really. I wasn't making an issue out of anything, just giving the points of what I had been told and also what I had read in the ad. The lady out front seemed to get annoyed with whoever was in the back giving out - apparently wrong information, but not enough to make her visibly angry. They were more interested in clearing it all out to start afresh, apparently. This was being held at the Community College on College property, but this organization was a Garden Club of some sort, I'm guessing volunteers helping students to do some sort of projects in growing plants - for what reason I have no clue.

So, I got some very nice plants. The ad said the freebies were in need of TLC and would come back around when you got them planted, which is why I was a bit surprised to see some very fine specimens in the alleged freebie aisle. They are not in bad shape at all, probably why the woman out front was objecting to those particular plants being for free. I'm guessing around $150 worth of plants for $20, I'm not complaining.

In a little while I'll be heading outside to put those clippings in the ground before they start dying and a useless venture as per that part of the haul.

That will be it for the day, as well, as I am trying to recuperate and get over this sickness.

There isn't much going on around here anyway. Kids are gone at some park and swap adventure, there are no tenants here right now and the only thing I have are a bunch of dog eyes staring at me. I wish I could take them for a walk, but I KNOW that physical exertion while I am in the midst of a respiratory illness is a very BAD idea, so I won't. Instead, I will force the kids to walk them in exchange for the food and drink they have been consuming around here. I make neighborhood kids do chores around here since they want to be over here so much, eating my food, using my computer (when I let them), watching my satellite tv, and using my Playstation III.

There are other things, but I am going to close this one.
ben